The first humans travelling on ice: an energy-saving strategy?

Formenti, Federico; Minetti, Alberto E.

doi:10.1111/j.1095-8312.2007.00991.x

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Yet the few studies which have detailed camel distribution have noted that camels do not appear to avoid rocky, range habitats as previously suggested 56 . Other studies have suggested, based on fossil evidence of Paracamelus, that the dromedary camel may have descended from a larger boreal browser, whose fat pads evolved as an adaptation in cold climates to traverse over snow 37 -much like humans wearing snow shoes 57,58 . While having larger fat pads would certainly reduce the tendency for feet to sink into sand or snow 59 , the relative influences of body mass and habitat on fat pad function are difficult to unravel.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biomechanical insights into the role of foot pads during locomotion in camelid species

Clemente

Dick

Glen

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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From the camel's toes to the horse's hooves, the diversity in foot morphology among mammals is striking. One distinguishing feature is the presence of fat pads, which may play a role in reducing foot pressures, or may be related to habitat specialization. The camelid family provides a useful paradigm to explore this as within this phylogenetically constrained group we see prominent (camels) and greatly reduced (alpacas) fat pads. We found similar scaling of vertical ground reaction force with body mass, but camels had larger foot contact areas, which increased with velocity, unlike alpacas, meaning camels had relatively lower foot pressures. Further, variation between specific regions under the foot was greater in alpacas than camels. Together, these results provide strong evidence for the role of fat pads in reducing relative peak locomotor foot pressures, suggesting that the fat pad role in habitat specialization remains difficult to disentangle. All mammalian feet possess a similar role-to transmit the forces associated with locomotion to the environment. However, despite this similar mechanical function, their size, structure, and composition show remarkable variation 1-8. In some terrestrial mammals, the feet have evolved fatty/fibrous pads or digital cushions that cover bony prominences within the fore and hind feet 7. However, the primary functions of these pads remain largely unclear. Previous studies have proposed that foot fat pads play various, yet not mutually exclusive roles, such as reducing peak or transient musculoskeletal stresses along the limb 9-12 , reducing localised pressures under the foot 13-17 , or their presence may be related to substrate differences among species habitats 18-20. In some terrestrial mammals, including humans, the strain-dependent and compliant properties of fat pads have been shown to play an important role in dissipating and regulating the peak transient loads transmitted to the lower limb during locomotion 7,8,21-27. This role of fat pads in dissipating and distributing the mechanical forces associated with locomotion likely becomes even more pivotal as animals increase in size or move faster. Size becomes important because scaling patterns predict that stress and pressure become disproportionally large as animals increase in body mass 2,10-12,28-31. Stress and pressure are equal to force divided by area; thus locomotor pressures and stresses could be moderated by reducing the forces applied, or by increasing the surface area over which the forces act. Geometric scaling predicts that locomotor forces increase proportionally with body mass (M 1.0), yet the cross-sectional area available to withstand these forces increases with a lower exponent (M 0.67), predicting stress to increase as M 0.33. Fat pads may decrease this stress/pressure by reducing the loading rate and therefore the peak impact forces. For example, in humans, fat pads located under the heel have been shown to attenuate 50-90% of the heel strike impact by the time the stress wave reaches the knee, and as...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biomechanical insights into the role of foot pads during locomotion in camelid species

Clemente

Dick

Glen

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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“…Outdoor ice skating may have first been used as a form of transportation thousands of years ago with the aid of bone skates (Formenti and Minetti ). In modern times, ice skating provides important recreational benefits such as activity, social capital, and cohesion, as well as a sense of place and connection to one's heritage (Visser and Petersen ; Liu et al ).…”

Section: Warm Winters and Losses In Ice‐derived Cultural Ecosystem Sementioning

confidence: 99%

Consequences of lake and river ice loss on cultural ecosystem services

Knoll

Sharma

Denfeld

et al. 2019

Limnol Oceanogr Letters

121

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Inland lake and river ice are underappreciated resources threatened by climate change. Over the past 150 years, seasonal ice cover duration on Northern Hemisphere lakes and rivers has been decreasing. Ice-cover loss affects ecosystem services in various ways, but comprehensive studies evaluating the interplay between society and ice-covered lakes and rivers are lacking. For the first time, we provide quantitative evidence of the diverse ways that the loss of inland ice may reduce cultural ecosystem services. AbstractPeople extensively use lakes and rivers covered by seasonal ice. Although ice cover duration has been declining over the past 150 years for Northern Hemisphere freshwaters, we know relatively little about how ice loss directly affects humans. Here, we synthesize the cultural ecosystem services (i.e., services that provide intangible or nonmaterial benefits) and associated benefits supported by inland ice. We also provide, for the first time, empirical examples that give quantitative evidence for a winter warming effect on a wide range of ice-related cultural ecosystem services and benefits. We show that in recent decades, warmer air temperatures delayed the opening date of winter ice roads and led to cancellations of spiritual ceremonies, outdoor ice skating races, and ice fishing tournaments. Additionally, our synthesis effort suggests unexploited data sets that allow for the use of integrative approaches to evaluate the interplay between inland ice loss and society.With the majority of the world's lakes located at higher latitudes (>45 N) in the Northern Hemisphere (Verpoorter et al. 2014), seasonal ice cover is a common phenomenon (Denfeld et al. 2018). As a result of climate change, shorter ice duration or incomplete ice cover are becoming more common around the world (Magnuson et al. 2000;Benson et al. 2012;Sharma et al. 2019). Projected trends for air temperature and snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere suggest that seasonal ice cover duration will continue to decline (Shuter et al. 2013;Yao et al. 2014;Magee and Wu 2017;Hewitt et al. 2018;Sharma et al. 2019).Such losses in lake and river ice do not occur without reducing the uses of ice cover by people. However, it appears that the cultural ecosystem services and benefits that ice

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“…The energy-saving principle was hypothesised to be a determinant factor in the birth of bone skates (Formenti and Minetti 2008). These authors created replicas of ancient bone skates, and measured velocity and metabolic energy cost of bone skating.…”

Section: Skating On Animal Bones May Have Reduced Time and Energy Cosmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of the Physics of Ice Surface Friction and the Development of Ice Skating

Formenti

2014

Research in Sports Medicine

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Our walking and running movement patterns require friction between shoes and ground. The surface of ice is characterized by low friction in several naturally occurring conditions, and compromises our typical locomotion pattern. Ice skates take advantage of this slippery nature of ice; the first ice skates were made more than 4,000 years ago, and afforded the development of a very efficient form of human locomotion. This review presents an overview of the physics of ice surface friction, and discusses the most relevant factors that can influence ice skates' dynamic friction coefficient. It also presents the main stages in the development of ice skating, describes the associated implications for exercise physiology, and shows the extent to which ice skating performance improved through history. This article illustrates how technical and materials' development, together with empirical understanding of muscle biomechanics and energetics, led to one of the fastest forms of human powered locomotion.

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The first humans travelling on ice: an energy-saving strategy?

Cited by 5 publications

References 10 publications

Biomechanical insights into the role of foot pads during locomotion in camelid species

Biomechanical insights into the role of foot pads during locomotion in camelid species

Consequences of lake and river ice loss on cultural ecosystem services

A Review of the Physics of Ice Surface Friction and the Development of Ice Skating

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